Metallurgical apparatus



'may conveniently be used in the Patented Mar. 3, 1925,

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Application 111m July 19, 192i. semi 1T0. 485,884.

To all whom it may concern; I

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM E. Gramm- WALT, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements-in Metallurgical A paratus, of-which the following is a speci cation.

Ifhe'invention has for 'itsobject; the effective treatment of liquids with gases. It

reclplta- .tion of metals from solutions, in t e reduction of ferric saltsin-the electrolysis of copr solutions containing salts of iron, and m the treatment of ore pulps with gases, suchas sul. hur dioxide, or chlorine. I

This app ication may be considered. as an improvement or modification of Patents No. 1,347,088, July 20, 1920; No. 1,347,089, July 20, 1920; No: 1,353,995, September 28, 1920,

especially the latter, in. which is shown an -.elect1blytic apparatus consisting of an electrolyzer and a reducing chamber to reduce, say, the ferric salts formed by theelectrolys1s of copper solutions contaimng salts of iron. The present application 1s concerned more with the details of the reducing chamber in the application ofcorrosive gases to corrosive liquids, or electrolytes, although it is not intended to limit the apparatus to any particularuse.

The apparatus can best be described by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows a transverse section of the a paratus. Fig. 2 a lon itudinal section. ig. 3 a detail of a modi ed shaft arrangement. Fig. 4 a detail, in elevation, of one of the atomizers. Fig. 5, a detail, in section, of one of the atomizers. .Fig. 6 a detail of the ribs, or projections, of the atomizers on the line 66 of Fig. 4.

In the drawings, 1 is a tank adapted to .contain. the liquid to be treated, and 2 a cover engaging the tank to form a closed chamber therewith. The tank is divided into longitudinal sections by the partitions 3, and, with the partitions 4, causes the liquid to flow through the tank in an up and down or in a sinuous course. -Within each section is a rotary impregnator 5, taken as a whole, consisting of a shaft 6, upon which .are mounted on theshaft by having a fixed steel collar, or anchor, 8 toward one end of the shaft,- outsidev of the tank, and lead 001- .lars 9 passing. throu h a stufling box 10 at I the sides of the tan and contacting with l the hubs of the atomizers 7. on the oripo site outside. of the tank a split nut 11 is fitted to the threads 12 of the shaft so that ,by turning-"the nut;- the various atomizer hubs and collars are compressed and made .rigid on the shaftso as to prevent any gas or liquid from gettin to the unprotected shaft to destroy it or roin gettin bearing. The nut 11 is mounte w on the shaft between the rotary spraying member and thebearing 13, and the nut is preferably made with a considerable projection to prevent corrosive fluid which may escape from the chamber through the stuffing box from getting into the bearing or from getting to the exposed steel shaft outside of the chamber. bearings13 and driven by the motor 16 and the pulley 14. The other shafts-.niay be driven by belts from the ulley 15. In this way any number of she ts may be driven by one motor 16. The liquid is flowed into i the tank' through the inlet 17 and overflows into the The shaft is mounted on the through the outlet 18. The cover is preferrepair or replace it. The gas inlet is indicated by 19 and the gas outlet by 20. The gas is preferably flowed throu h the chamber by suction made by an e auster (not shown) communicating with the outlet pipe 20, so that if there is any leak there may be a flow of air inwardly but no gas will escape to contaminate the atmosphere. Within the chamber are scrubbers 21 consisting of a grating 22, filled with some permeable material such as coke or quartz 23, which serves to increase the surface exposure of the liquid to the gas, and may also serve to promote the reactions between the liquid and the gas. To still further increase the surface area of the liquid, baflies 24 are inter osed between the atomizers 7 in the liqui and bafiies 25 in the gas over the liquid. The atomizers are preferably provided with ribs 26, F5 s. 4, 5, and 6, which tend to spray some 0 the liquid into the gas and su merge some of the gas in the lquid, when the shaft is rotated at the Fig. 3 shows a modified arrangement for mounting the atomizers on the shaft. In this case the shaft 30 is hollow. The collar 31 is secured to the shaft. A steel collar 32, pro'ecting slightly beyond the end of it, rotates in the hearing at one end. The lead collars 9, passing through the stuffing boxes of the tank, 'fill in the spaces between the atomizer hubs and the steel collar 32 and the steel collar 31. 'A rod 33 passes through the hollow shaft, with a nut 34: at one, or both, ends. The atomizerssand collars are compressed by turning the nut, and in this way the atomizers and collars are maintained rigid on the shaft and the joints are kept tight to protect the shaft from the li uid and the gas.

Ihe operation of the apparatus may be briefly described as follows: The liquid to be treated is flowed into the tank through.

the liquid inlet 17 and maintains its level by overflowing through the outlet 18. It is given a sinuous course through the tank by the partitions 3 and 4, so that none of the liquid will be short circuited from the inlet to the outlet. The gas is introduced through the gas inlet 19 and exhausted through the outlet 20. It flows horizontally through the chamber and through the scrubbers 21, which tend to equalize the flow. Both the scrubbers 21 and the b afiies 25 greatly increase the surface exposure of the li uid under treatment with the gas. The sha t is rotated at the proper speed to effectively spray the liquid into the gas over the liquid and submerge some of the gas in the liquid: this speed will usually be several hundred revolutions per minute. The atomizers, ro-

tating at such a speed, spray the liquid into the gas and into the scrubbers in a fine state of subdivision, while at the same time some of the gas is submerged and distributed in the liquid in a fine state of subdivision. The gas passing through the permeable mass .of the scrubbers 21 comes in contact with the cham er.

able to have a large volume of solution unthe. liquid, and the gassed liquid is immediately and continuously washed back into the pool and replaced by other liquid from the pool. In this way the liquid is efiectively treated with the gas as it passes from one section of the tank to the next, while at the same time'the 'steelshaft of the rotating mechanism is eflectively protected from the corrosive action of both the liquid and the gas. The gas flows in a substantially horizontal direction through the chamber as also through the permeable mass of coke, quartz, or other material within the chamber) The time of treatment will depend on the volume of the li uid and its rate of flow through Ordinarily it will be desir- 'der treatment, and the time can be regulated largely by the rate of flow. The chambers are referably made fairly deep, depending on t 1e volume of liquid to be treated and the results desired. A considerable depth of liquid will be the most economical way to get a large volume of liquid under contmuous treatment.

The volume of liquid sprayed into the gaseous atmosphere in the chamber will depend largely on the speed of rotation and the amount of submergence of the periphery of the. discs, or rotary member. At the same speed, the power consumption will be more or less proportional to the depth of submergence of ti Excellent results have been ob-' e discs, and consequently also to the amountof liquid sprayed. For

chamber above the liquid will be filled with a fine mist mixed with a heavier spray, which is thrown from 15 to 20 feet. Ifthis heavier spray is impinged against baffles, or

sprayed. into a permeable mass such as the scrubbers shown by 21, which act more or less as baiiles, the heavier spray is also largely converted into a fine sprayor mist. The power consumed when the periphery of the discs has a submergence of about inch below the normal liquid level is very small. Good results in some metallurgical work will be obtained with a depth of liquid of 10 feet, a gaseous atmosphere above the liquid of from 4 to 6 feet, discs having a diameter of one foot, a submergence of from A to inch, and a rotary speed of the discs of 1000 R. P. M. These conditions however, may vary greatly, depending on the material being treated and the results desired.

In order to keep the liquid at approximately the same level, irrespective of the volume of flow of liquid, a weir overflow is arranged as shown at-18, Fig. 2, which is arranged so that the liquid may be adjusted to the level desired, and variedas desired,

' and so that the depth of submergence of the down-a chemical reaction. If it is desired to cool air, for example, for ventilation purposes, the cooling of the liquid may be desirable'. The temperature may be controlled by flowing a heating or cooling fluid through the pipes 35 in the bottom of-the tank. If the i uid is of a corrosive nature, lead pipes s ould be used.

"Some chemical reactions may be promoted b the material used in the scrubbers, 21. l he reaction, for example, between ferric salts and sulphur dioxide is promoted in the presence of coke or charcoal, as also the reaction between sulphur dioxide and Water in the presence of a material in the towers which may act as a catalytic agent, or as an agent to occlude or concentrate the gas.

There is an advantage in dividmg the chamber 1 into sections, as shown in? Fig. 2. This arrangement assures the uniform treatment of both the gas and the liquid. All the liquid in one section has got to come to the surface to be sprayed, or come under the influence of the gas, before it can flow into the next section. Similarly, all the gas hasgot to go through'the scrubbers in intimate contact with the liquid, before it can get from one section to the next.

The quantity of liquid exposed to the action of the gas is very large; in addition to the spray, there will always be a film of liquid at the sides of the tank and on the surface of the material composing the scrubbers. The rapidly rotating discs also expose an enormous surface of constantly changing liquid. If, for example, the discs are a little over a foot in diameter and have a superficial area of two square feet, for both sides, four discs on a shaft, as shown in Fig. 1, and a rotary speed of 1000 R. P. M., there will be exposed a constantly changing surface of liquid of 8,000 sq. feet, per' minute.

The form of the rotary member may vary considerably. The discs, as shown, are preferred for most purposes. If the discs are made wider, that is to say, more in the form of an ordinary cylinder, the spray will be wider also. The spray will have the same, or nearly the same, width as the width of the disc or cylinder. Other forms of rotary members may be used, but experimentation has shown that a rotary member with a circular periphery will ordinarily give the best results. If rotary sprayers other than discs are used, it will be'understood that the circular periphery, or peripheral circle, described by .anyother form of rotary sprayer, will in effect he the same as the discs.

Under the conditions of operation of this apparatus the liquid below the surface, so far as the discs are concerned, remains practically undisturbed. There is no violent agitation of the mass of the liquid. In this respect the apparatus differsfrom the ordinary means oftreating liquids with gases in which the gas is brought into intimate contact with the liquid by violent agitation of the entire liquid, or as in the ordinary scrubbing tower in which the liquid is showeredthrough the asceriding gas.

There is an advantage in spraying the liquid into the gas as embodied in this invention, in that the effect desired is usually more pronounced than in apparatus ordinarilyemployed. It is evident. that theliquid sprayed at a high speed into the gaseous atmosphere will develop-considerable pressure between the gas and the liquid spray, and hence promote the desired chemical reaction between the gas andthe liquid, notwithstanding that the gas in the chamber is under a slight suction inwardly.

I claim: I 1

1. In apparatus for treating liquids with gas, a chamber having a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet and a gas inlet-and a gas outlet. and adapted to contain liquid and to confine gas over the li uid, said chamber bein divided into sections in the upper portion with fluid permeable members dividing the sections, partitions in the lower portion of the chamber arran ed to give the liquid a sinuous flow throug the chamber, means for flowing gas through the chamber and through the permeable members from one section to the next, and means within the sections for spraying liquid into the gas and into the permeable members.

2. In apparatus for treating liquid with gas, a chamber divided into sections each of which is adapted to contain a pool of liquid and to confine gas over the pool, sprayers in the various sections adapted for spraying liquid of the pools into the gas, means for progressively advancing the gas through the liquid sprays 'over the pools of the various sections, partitions arranged between the pools to give the liquid a sinuous flow from one pool of the series to the next, an overflow liquid outlet from the chamber, said partitions and overflow liquid outlet being. arranged to maintain a substantially constant liquid level in all of the pools. v

3. In apparatus for treating liquid with gas, a chamber adapted to contain liquid and to confine gas over the liquid, a rotary shaft 'passing horizontally through the chamber and journaled outside, a spraying member mounted on said shaft and ada ted to spray liquid in the lower portion 0 the chamber into the gas in the upper portion and a projectin member mounted on the shaft between t e shaft bearing and the spraying member to protect the exposed shaft and to prevent escaping fluid from the chamber from getting 'into the shaft bearlngs. f

'4. In ap aratus for treating liquid with gas, a .tan& adapted to contain a pool of liquid and to confine gas over the pool, a permeable stationary member within the the gas adapted to spray some of the liquid of the ol mto the permeable member, and means or'supplying gas to the tank.

5. In apparatus ,for treating llqllld with gas, a tank adapted to contain a pool of liquid and toconfine gas over the pool, a permeable stationary member within the tank above the liquid adapted to promote chemical reaction between constituents of the gas and constituents of the liquid, spraying means within the chamber for spraying some of the liquid of the pool into the permeable stationary member, and means for supplying gas to the tank.

6. In apparatus for treating liquld with gas, a chamber having a gas inlet and a gas outlet andahlaiguid inlet and a liquid outadapted to s ray liquid from the surface of the pool in t e lower portion of the chamber into the gas over the pool, a projecting mem:

her mounted on said shaft between the shaft bearing outside of the chamber and the spraying member within the chamber to prevent escaping fluid from the chamber from getting to the exposed shaft or from getting into the shaft bearings, and suction means for flowing gasthrough the chamber over the pool of liquid.

WILLIAM E. GREENAWALT. 

